Here is a collection of posts from Anet in the old forum about display names and why it is not likely to be changed unless it meets strict criteria.

Anet usually only offers display name changes in the event the display name compromises your privacy, (example using real name or email address), or if the name violates the GW2 naming policy. The links below go to posts from Anet staff regarding this issue.

I don't know why they won't let us change it, Anet would make tons of money with a display name change item, about 80% of my friends are unhappy with their names because they didn't know it would be visible in-game, lol. Edit: I actually hate the silly numbers in it, I never use numbers in my usernames so I wish we could just pick something unique...

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

You are mistaken. The Account Name is the email address associated with your account. Display Name is the name everyone sees, thus the 'display' designation.

As JustTrogdor stated, there have not been, and probably won't be, any plans to allow a change of Display Name. One of the reasons is it causes a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

You are mistaken. The Account Name is the email address associated with your account. Display Name is the name everyone sees, thus the 'display' designation.

As JustTrogdor stated, there have been, and probably won't be, any plans to allow a change of Display Name. One of the reasons is it causes a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.

Within the game? Or just on here? On here yeah, I see the name, but in game I pretty much see the name of the character the person logs in as.
Like if their account is "Buffalo Zojja.5309" but their characters is "Dark Lord Avius" and "Butterball Kuribo", if they're on and talking I would either see Avius or Kuribo.
The only time I see the "display name" is if I go into the friendlist or if they're in the guild and I highlight the character or something to let me know who is who.

@circuitnerd.5863 said:
They said they couldn't because it causes all sorts of bugs.

That's true. My display name was changed (because of copyright issues) but it changed back to the old one whenever I opened the guild window and when I changed my status (online/away/invisible). It was really weird. Anet told me to be patient because the name change needs some time to go through the whole system. The problem fixed itself in a few weeks.

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

You are mistaken. The Account Name is the email address associated with your account. Display Name is the name everyone sees, thus the 'display' designation.

As JustTrogdor stated, there have been, and probably won't be, any plans to allow a change of Display Name. One of the reasons is it causes a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.

Within the game? Or just on here? On here yeah, I see the name, but in game I pretty much see the name of the character the person logs in as.
Like if their account is "Buffalo Zojja.5309" but their characters is "Dark Lord Avius" and "Butterball Kuribo", if they're on and talking I would either see Avius or Kuribo.
The only time I see the "display name" is if I go into the friendlist or if they're in the guild and I highlight the character or something to let me know who is who.

In-game or out. Display Name is the name others see; Account Name (email address) no one sees.

maybe thread necro, but I didnt want to start yet another one on the subject (and GM MagicalPotato suggested I posted my will on the forums after my Display Name Change request was denied)

I agree that there should be an option to change names that arent compromised in some way (real name, address, copyright)
as stated before, some people didnt know it would be visible online
and some just want to change it because they found a better one etc

and its no secret that if such service was paid, it would net quite a heavy amount to ANet
people are willing to pay for aesthetics

Please read the archived (linked) posts that Just Trogdor posted above. Please also read the confirmation by Fantasy that changing a Display Name causes problems, sometimes for an extended period of time.

There are very good reasons that we do not change Display Names, and I would think by the very designation Display Name that it would be clear that it would be, you know, displayed? It's important to know, if not mentioned in those threads, that changing a Display Name does not allow one to become hidden from former friends or follwers; so that reasoning is moot in this context. No matter the name, your Friends List goes with you. We suggest if someone is being harassed that they use the "Block" feature.

I'm sorry if the policy is displeasing, but because I've seen changes abused in other games, I do stand behind a policy that allows changes only for security reasons.

Indeed, "running away" from those in your friends list is, at best, an odd reason (i mean, seriously, what?)
still, Ill stand my ground on the aesthetic point; Im not invalidating any of the previously stated points (taking the chance to apologize if I ever sounded like those reasons stated by ANet employees are bad), but if the team were to find a way to turn it possible (maybe with a cooldown of, idk, 6 months? between aesthetic display changes), I believe there would be those even willing to pay for such a thing, although at least a one time only free service for existing users would surely be appreciated in such case

three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

Except no names are 'taken' in Display Names; there can be as many 'John' or 'Mary' or 'GWTwoFan' Display Names as desired. Well, 9999 of each one, anyway.

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

Not true. For example there are two Mea.xxxx that have posted on the forums, a Mea.5491 and a Mea.8967

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

I've been playing since release and I quit for the same reason too, I've tried to keep a lowkey status because I am very disturbed by the display name I'm using, also because I thought that the lesser friends I had would make the change easier with what Inculpatus had said, 'a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.' . It was also my younger brother who created this account with the IGN he used for other games, I was busy with work at the time and it was my mistake as I had assumed that anything in the sign up would be subject to change, I also come from a small country and I never really liked how his display name would roughly denote where I'm from to complete strangers..

Having hoped that the display name change would be available in the future, I've invested a lot of time and money on this account, made and lost touch with a bunch of friends, and even had GW2 to inspire me to start streaming 4 years ago before it's first expansion, but eventually I couldn't bear to play, stream or progress with the display name that I had anymore and quit almost immediately after purchasing the Heart of Thorns expansion, without ever once experiencing the new raid content..

Every few months or so I get nostalgic and I do eventually want to come back to GW2 to make it my home base MMORPG and perhaps stream daily. I have half a mind to create a new account, catching it up would be interesting because my focus interest of the game is the nostalgic exploration of the ever changing GW2 world and the unique combat system for both PvE and PvP content, I can bear with the loss of the time exclusive items I've farmed or paid for, but I can not bear with using the current display name I am using as it is a different form of a branding or a persona that I want to portray if I am ever streaming..

I wish there is something that can be done about the display name change as I really enjoy the game and I would like to play it for many years to come without eventually having to create a new account, I do understand that this request is perhaps futile, so I appreciate any response that comes along.

Thank You for your taking the time if you had read, and thank you ArenaNet Team for all your support so far.

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

Even I have to Linken accounts so yea odd that you hit the same last 4 digit as every name you tried mate.
Did you by chance try to do 0001 on all of em or sum?

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

I've been playing since release and I quit for the same reason too, I've tried to keep a lowkey status because I am very disturbed by the display name I'm using, also because I thought that the lesser friends I had would make the change easier with what Inculpatus had said, 'a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.' . It was also my younger brother who created this account with the IGN he used for other games, I was busy with work at the time and it was my mistake as I had assumed that anything in the sign up would be subject to change, I also come from a small country and I never really liked how his display name would roughly denote where I'm from to complete strangers..

Having hoped that the display name change would be available in the future, I've invested a lot of time and money on this account, made and lost touch with a bunch of friends, and even had GW2 to inspire me to start streaming 4 years ago before it's first expansion, but eventually I couldn't bear to play, stream or progress with the display name that I had anymore and quit almost immediately after purchasing the Heart of Thorns expansion, without ever once experiencing the new raid content..

Every few months or so I get nostalgic and I do eventually want to come back to GW2 to make it my home base MMORPG and perhaps stream daily. I have half a mind to create a new account, catching it up would be interesting because my focus interest of the game is the nostalgic exploration of the ever changing GW2 world and the unique combat system for both PvE and PvP content, I can bear with the loss of the time exclusive items I've farmed or paid for, but I can not bear with using the current display name I am using as it is a different form of a branding or a persona that I want to portray if I am ever streaming..

I wish there is something that can be done about the display name change as I really enjoy the game and I would like to play it for many years to come without eventually having to create a new account, I do understand that this request is perhaps futile, so I appreciate any response that comes along.

Thank You for your taking the time if you had read, and thank you ArenaNet Team for all your support so far.

Looking at your name I have no idea of were your from ( looks like a scrambled jumble of uppercase letters to be honest) and I could get to know it by google but thats only becouse you said it was a identifire mate.

Just gonna say, the average forum user / player doesn’t care what your display name is. It is what it is. I don’t know you or where you’re from by just reading your display name, if that helps. Maybe this anxiety is just in your head.

I’ll second that. No one cares what your display name is. Look around on the forums you’ll see all sorts of names from random to serious to silly. Not one of the people here who are unhappy about their display name has a name that stands out more than any other, or tells where you are from for that matter.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:
I’ll second that. No one cares what your display name is. Look around on the forums you’ll see all sorts of names from random to serious to silly. Not one of the people here who are unhappy about their display name has a name that stands out more than any other, or tells where you are from for that matter.

In GW2 I'd second that seconding, although I also play SWTOR, and I use the same display name over there, and I do occasionally get some snark from people about it in their forums. (There are occasions when people come up with spectacularly silly ideas, and they often don't take kindly to people pointing out the flaws. Sometimes that results in them dismissing my comments on the grounds that it's just some sort of cynical blither.) I don't care one way or another about people's opinion of my display name.

Coming from an informatic background, I find it weird that a "Display Name" is anything other than a cosmetic feature of the account. A display name in computing is normally a name that exists purely for cosmetic purposes, and calling it a "display name" means that the true name is some sort of hidden identifier that consequently does not need to ever change. Applying that to GW2, your Display Name should be just a name that's shown when the systems want to show stuff to (other) players and/or to GW2 staff, and all the "linkage" should be done with the hidden identifier. In this schema, the Display Name can be changed freely because it's just cosmetic. However, it's clear that the GW2 Display Name is (at least in part) the true name, except that it's not hidden.

@Harry Foud.1935 said:
I have a question. why can't we change our display names? Is there a plan to be able to do it in the future?
(display name is the name following 4 digits. joe.1234 or smth)

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

you know upon account creation you can't change it. but what some may not understand is that everyone will call you by that name. You might think your account name is for you, but its not.

I think what the OP was getting at was just changing that display name but keeping the account name the same.
So it would be account name - private(anet contact related), display name - public (call me this name). When i signed up i was use to people calling me by my toons name so i didn't really think about it, but nobody really does that anymore at first glance.
It's quite obvious to tell who in your guild knows you and who doesn't however when they call you by your account name and not the name you go by (usually based off your main toons name).

I realize this won't be changing, but since i cosplay based off what your able to do with the character customization i didn't have a toons name picked out B4 before i created my account. I was too used to WoW(Lich king) pre dating the "battle tags" / "account name" when i quit wow and later started up with GW2. This idea of not being called by your toon name was a whole new thing for me. lol but w/e...

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

You are mistaken. The Account Name is the email address associated with your account. Display Name is the name everyone sees, thus the 'display' designation.

As JustTrogdor stated, there have been, and probably won't be, any plans to allow a change of Display Name. One of the reasons is it causes a bug within the game, and can make sending mail and friend's lists/guild member lists wonky.

Within the game? Or just on here? On here yeah, I see the name, but in game I pretty much see the name of the character the person logs in as.
Like if their account is "Buffalo Zojja.5309" but their characters is "Dark Lord Avius" and "Butterball Kuribo", if they're on and talking I would either see Avius or Kuribo.
The only time I see the "display name" is if I go into the friendlist or if they're in the guild and I highlight the character or something to let me know who is who.

i never get that, people always call me by my account name and i h8 it! (This is my 2nd account btw. so i like this one.) lol
but all my AP is on my other account

@Linken.6345 said:
Looking at your name I have no idea of were your from ( looks like a scrambled jumble of uppercase letters to be honest) and I could get to know it by google but thats only becouse you said it was a identifire mate.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:
I’ll second that. No one cares what your display name is. Look around on the forums you’ll see all sorts of names from random to serious to silly. Not one of the people here who are unhappy about their display name has a name that stands out more than any other, or tells where you are from for that matter.

Thank you, I appreciate your responses and I understand your efforts to help ease my mind under the current situation I'm in, but I have encountered some players who have guessed where I'm from based on my name because the name means something else in a different language.

I understand that most people turn a blind eye to it, but it is a contradicting statement as there are still some people who will see mine and others names as, 'looks like a scrambled jumble of uppercase letters to be honest', 'see all sorts of names from random to serious to silly', and to further elaborate with Steve's response

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:
In GW2 I'd second that seconding, although I also play SWTOR, and I use the same display name over there, and I do occasionally get some snark from people about it in their forums. (There are occasions when people come up with spectacularly silly ideas, and they often don't take kindly to people pointing out the flaws. Sometimes that results in them dismissing my comments on the grounds that it's just some sort of cynical blither.) I don't care one way or another about people's opinion of my display name.

I understand what you're trying to relate and for me it has become unbearable to continue playing on this account as I have encountered first time meetups with people who have directly made cynical remarks, curses and insults because of my name, it doesn't help especially whenever I join LFGs trying to make new friends or to guide new players because sometimes I would firstly be insulted for having a name that 'looks like a scrambled jumble of uppercase letters', it is especially hard for me to give new suggestions that works to the 'veteran' or new players. I understand that some players are simply toxic, but I would agree that I would not be threatened like that if I was using a less cracked up name..

For one instance I had to patiently tolerate the trash talk of back then a famous Youtuber who in his own words said I had a stupid name and was a noob dyslexic kid when we were in a dungeon, he assumed I had 'Blinding Powder' on my utilities as a Thief but what he saw was a similar animation from the 'Harpy Feathers' I was using in a dungeon, I had to calmly work my way around suggesting we run a more difficult dungeon so I could log on my Guardian and perform better, I also had to use a few glitches and weapon swaps before he finally noticed, respected and stopped degrading me..

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:
Coming from an informatic background, I find it weird that a "Display Name" is anything other than a cosmetic feature of the account. A display name in computing is normally a name that exists purely for cosmetic purposes, and calling it a "display name" means that the true name is some sort of hidden identifier that consequently does not need to ever change. Applying that to GW2, your Display Name should be just a name that's shown when the systems want to show stuff to (other) players and/or to GW2 staff, and all the "linkage" should be done with the hidden identifier. In this schema, the Display Name can be changed freely because it's just cosmetic. However, it's clear that the GW2 Display Name is (at least in part) the true name, except that it's not hidden.

Thanks Steve, just as was trying to state in my first post, I couldn't have said it any better, I play many different MMORPGs and I want to use the name that I chose for myself so that I can be recognised in the different games that I play.

@SIANZACZAC.7802 said:
I can not bear with using the current display name I am using as it is a different form of a branding or a persona that I want to portray if I am ever streaming..

Thanks for all your time, responses and the support that came with so far, also I hope you can understand that not all of my time in GW2 was toxic and I have received a lot of love from the brilliant community that comes with it.

@Harry Foud.1935 said:
I have a question. why can't we change our display names? Is there a plan to be able to do it in the future?
(display name is the name following 4 digits. joe.1234 or smth)

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:
So not the character name right?
If so, it's not the "display name". It's your account name. Not sure why you would need to change that.

you know upon account creation you can't change it. but what some may not understand is that everyone will call you by that name. You might think your account name is for you, but its not.

I think what the OP was getting at was just changing that display name but keeping the account name the same.
So it would be account name - private(anet contact related), display name - public (call me this name). When i signed up i was use to people calling me by my toons name so i didn't really think about it, but nobody really does that anymore at first glance.
It's quite obvious to tell who in your guild knows you and who doesn't however when they call you by your account name and not the name you go by (usually based off your main toons name).

I realize this won't be changing, but since i cosplay based off what your able to do with the character customization i didn't have a toons name picked out B4 before i created my account. I was too used to WoW(Lich king) pre dating the "battle tags" / "account name" when i quit wow and later started up with GW2. This idea of not being called by your toon name was a whole new thing for me. lol but w/e...

In my experience it varies a lot. I had a hard time contacting the person who organises raids for my guild because everyone calls her by a shortened version of her raid character's name...but she only logs into that character when she's raiding (I think it was her main character at one point, but that was before I joined the guild). I spent ages going up and down the guild roster and Discord list trying to find someone with the name I was told to look for and then had to ask several people what her account name was before I found someone who could remember.

But other people go by their account name, either because it's easier or because they don't really have a main character and there's nothing in common between their character names. Or maybe because that's what they prefer and asked people to call them.

I inadvertently got around the problem by 'borrowing' my main characters name for my display name, way before GW2 existed. I've played the same main character in RPGs since Ultima Online which is almost as long as I've had the internet and slightly before I needed a permanent display name (back then I just used chat rooms where you picked a name when you entered the room and it reset when you left). So when I needed a permanent screen name which couldn't be my real name I mashed up hers and mine and 18 years later I'm still using it. (I don't like coming up with screen names - my other one is Just_Me which literally came from "I don't want one that references my RP character for this forum, I want one which is just me...that'll do".)

Danielle Aurorel, Desolation EU. Mini Collector

"You can run like a river, Till you end up in the sea
And you run till night is black, And keep on going in your dreams
And you know all the long while, It's the journey that you seek
It's the miles of moving forward, With the wind beneath your wings"

@scarryjack.3512 said:
three years ago, i stopped playing because this issue bothered me. it was holloween when i registered and i typed "scarry.jack" because everything i came up with was used. then i played 8 characters to level 80... with .scarry.jack <--- as my monicer. very annoying. if they don't want to change it, that's their choice. so was leaving the game. oh well.

Not true. For example there are two Mea.xxxx that have posted on the forums, a Mea.5491 and a Mea.8967

Yeah, I made a second account with the same name and just have a different number

Hey, plus point for finding a relevant thread and post there instead of creating a new one. Luckily, the thread you found has all the info and links you need to answer your questions. They have their policy about this and they declared it several times over now.
It's called Display Name. The clue is in the name. You should choose one that you are comfortable with being... you know, displayed.

They cant just fix the code. If they could, they would. There are also policy considerations hich you will have noted from the aforementioned threads.

Could support transfer from one account to another? Prob yes, but that opens up a whole bag of precedents and problems including exploits snd establishing if you are the owner of both and time taken to duplicate the info. They do it for one, they do it for others snd suddnly support times increase due to something completely unnecessary.

You say nothing is certain and whilst i sympathise, taking anets response as final in this instance would be wise

What sleep is here? What dreams there are in the unctuous coiling of the snakes mortal shuffling. weapon in my hand. My hand the arcing deathblow at the end of all things. The horror. The horror. I embrace it. . .

@Randulf.7614 said:
They cant just fix the code. If they could, they would. There are also policy considerations hich you will have noted from the aforementioned threads.

Could support transfer from one account to another? Prob yes, but that opens up a whole bag of precedents and problems including exploits snd establishing if you are the owner of both and time taken to duplicate the info. They do it for one, they do it for others snd suddnly support times increase due to something completely unnecessary.

You say nothing is certain and whilst i sympathise, taking anets response as final in this instance would be wise

So if I want another diplay name, I have to create new acc. (making the: do not break customer account / keep history of the acc policies irrelevant)

@Randulf.7614 said:
They cant just fix the code. If they could, they would. There are also policy considerations hich you will have noted from the aforementioned threads.

Could support transfer from one account to another? Prob yes, but that opens up a whole bag of precedents and problems including exploits snd establishing if you are the owner of both and time taken to duplicate the info. They do it for one, they do it for others snd suddnly support times increase due to something completely unnecessary.

You say nothing is certain and whilst i sympathise, taking anets response as final in this instance would be wise

So if I want another diplay name, I have to create new acc. (making the: do not break customer account / keep history of the acc policies irrelevant)

Since your old account will still be there with the same display name I dont see how the (making the: do not break customer account / keep history of the acc policies irrelevant) can happen in anyway.

You got a new account your old account aint broken, deleted history or otherwise.

Generally we do not offer display name changes ...because of a very hard and fast rule: Don't Break Your Customer's Account.

Changing display names can break your ability for social interactions in the game. And by break, I am speaking of users whose display names were changed in 2014 who still are broken today. The way display names are handled, we only change them in very specific circumstances and often even then only on a case-by-case basis after checking the account's age and situation. We always warn users, even if we do offer the change, that things could break. And the worst is: There is no way for us to 'unbreak' things. once broken, you're stuck and nothing we do will fix you.

... If we change your display name, we risk breaking your guild, your in-game mail, your ability to interact with the trade post and your whispers. In an MMO, we'd risk dooming a user to not being able to interact on any of the common social channels for days, weeks - or years.

If it's something like a first name, chances are we deny. You can always ask to have your ticket be escalated and have a supervisor review it. But if we say no to a display name change, we say no because we are likely to utterly wreck your game account. And we simply do not want to risk that, as we cannot un-wreck.

.

Dornsinger: 10 July 2018
Sorry, but we do not change display name on request because "I no longer like it" or "I got bored of it". Changing a display name utterly wrecks your game account, and the amount of time it remains broken can be anything from 2 weeks to years. We changed a user in 2013 who never recovered full use of their whispers, in-game mail, guild functions, and trade post interactions. There is no way to fix it for us, and 'going back' to a display name does not work.

If a user has their RL name in the display name, we make the change if asked, however, the game account could end up being no longer usable for regular social interactions. Basically: Anything a display name touches in the game could break, and we have no means of ever fixing that.

I'm very sorry. We've been looking into ways of making it work over the years, but so far have not found a safe way that does not break things.

(Naturally, if someone uses an offensive name, we force one name change. That the account may break is a risk that will have to be accepted. The alternative would be to close accounts with offensive display names, which we do if the account was clearly made to troll.)

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:
If you are interested, you can read the Dev (Lead GM) posts on this topic on Reddit.

Good luck.

TY, I red them.

So, you are saying you don't care if you can never use the Trading Post again, or chat with others, etc.?
Alas, even though you would like to play the game broken, most would not; and the policy is made for all the playerbase.

I wanted to change my account name some time back. it wasn't clear to me during account creation that I couldn't change it or even what it specifically was. it would be nice if this was clarified at the time of creation.

edit
I didn't know for example that the account name was the handle used for forum interactions. this would be useful info at time of account creation.

Account Name isn't used for forum interaction; Display Name is. Hence the Display designation.
Account Names are private, and only you and ArenaNet knows what they are (or should, anyway...if not, there is/will be a problem).

I agree that the rules about names are obscure. Plus: before launch, one of Gaile's statements about left some ambiguity, which is why I ended up with a display name that is, well, rather ill-conceived. Plus, as @Steve The Cynic.3217 points out: a display name shouldn't be a key field in the database. The key should be some sort of unique identifier that the system chooses. That was a mistake they made in GW1 and somehow replicated in GW2 (even though it causes similar issues there).

Regardless, things are as they are, not as we wish them to be or as we imagine they should have been if we were in charge.

Display names are fixed

And, well, that's the end of it, unfortunately.

Hype is the path to the dark side. Hype leads to unfulfilled expectations. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to disgust. Disgust leads to "oh, new shinies! I'm back!"

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:
That was a mistake they made in GW1 and somehow replicated in GW2 (even though it causes similar issues there).

I thought this was done intentionally in order to allow the connection of the account across both games (HoM, GWAMM, and such)?

To my knowledge, they never explained why.

However:

The two databases are distinct (we know this from the desync between HoM points/GWaMM earned in GW1 and what is recorded in GW2: GW1 has to be online for GW2 to know the status of those GW1 accomplishments)

We were able to choose our own display and account names for GW2, different from whatever was used for GW1.

It would have been possible to use a system-created "key field" for GW2 and link that to GW1, even if what we see would only have been the display|account names we chose.

Even for GW1, it was an odd choice. I'm sure they had reasons for doing it the way they did in both games; it just doesn't make sense to me from the outside. My speculations might be entirely off and even so, it's odd that they let themselves be stuck in the same situation for both games, in which we players get to choose display names and yet even they can't choose to change them without causing big issues. They know that people make inappropriate choices, they know people make mistakes, they know that there will always be legit reasons that people (or they) need or want to change how an account is recognized. So why didn't they build to allow them that option?

Regardless, whether I'm correct that they could have done differently, whether they should have done so... that's all moot. The situation is now that they cannot change the display name without mucking things up and we just have to live with it.

Hype is the path to the dark side. Hype leads to unfulfilled expectations. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to disgust. Disgust leads to "oh, new shinies! I'm back!"

I sometimes see players that use their license key as their display name. Usually happens with people who buy from resellers. Does ArenaNet change those upon request, or are they forever made to show their biggest Guild Wars mistake to anyone they ever join a party with?

@Tzarakiel.7490 said:
I sometimes see players that use their license key as their display name. Usually happens with people who buy from resellers. Does ArenaNet change those upon request, or are they forever made to show their biggest Guild Wars mistake to anyone they ever join a party with?

FYI: It's not their, or anyone else's, Serial Key; it's a UNID. It has nothing to do with where the game was acquired. And yes, CS will assist with displaying the correct Display Name.

Yup. I never even got to choose my display name, it was given to me the instant I registered my GW1 key, since I started that before GW 2. All bought from the Anet website. And I can get the name changed, customer support is great about this bug, but with all the same risks and conditions explained above.

I wish it were possible but certainly not worth breaking my account over! For other MMO’s this account name was just for login purposes and in-game I would only appear as my various characters, so I chose something obscure and used it here too, but it’s weird when people refer to as VDAC.

@89D1709F-DBE1-702E-E4AA-1A83EC993273.3072 said:
Yup. I never even got to choose my display name, it was given to me the instant I registered my GW1 key, since I started that before GW 2. All bought from the Anet website. And I can get the name changed, customer support is great about this bug, but with all the same risks and conditions explained above.

@89D1709F-DBE1-702E-E4AA-1A83EC993273.3072 said:
Yup. I never even got to choose my display name, it was given to me the instant I registered my GW1 key, since I started that before GW 2. All bought from the Anet website. And I can get the name changed, customer support is great about this bug, but with all the same risks and conditions explained above.

@89D1709F-DBE1-702E-E4AA-1A83EC993273.3072 said:
Yup. I never even got to choose my display name, it was given to me the instant I registered my GW1 key, since I started that before GW 2. All bought from the Anet website. And I can get the name changed, customer support is great about this bug, but with all the same risks and conditions explained above.

In your case, your display name CAN be changed. I had the same issue and Support allowed me to choose my current, normal display name.

Please note that I knew about the possible bugs and issues I could encouter, so to prevent them I decided to not make a character or do anything with the account until after the display name change. Under this condition, I have not had a single bug with it. Everything works fine. But I guess it may be different when you already have characters, unlocks, trading post entries or guild memberships (etc.) linked to the old display name.

I wonder why would it not be possible to just add a mask to your display name. I understand being unable to change it as it causes bugs, despite being a weird coding decision, but like Cynical said the system would use an invisible tag which, in gw2 case, is visible, so why not add a mask to it making our current display name as it is but invisible behind a new, easy-to-alter name whose only purpose is to be visible to players? It wouldn't be much different from a character name.

@Hirosama Nadasaki.6792 said:
I wonder why would it not be possible to just add a mask to your display name. I understand being unable to change it as it causes bugs, despite being a weird coding decision, but like Cynical said the system would use an invisible tag which, in gw2 case, is visible, so why not add a mask to it making our current display name as it is but invisible behind a new, easy-to-alter name whose only purpose is to be visible to players? It wouldn't be much different from a character name.

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:
I wanted to change my account name some time back. it wasn't clear to me during account creation that I couldn't change it or even what it specifically was. it would be nice if this was clarified at the time of creation.

edit
I didn't know for example that the account name was the handle used for forum interactions. this would be useful info at time of account creation.

@grouchybhaal.4275 said:
Wish that ingame you had the option to show character name or account name.

For the record, I'm fine with my name. I've been burned before so I try to pick something blah. I came to this thread because my son wants to change his name, but he'll be fine. Saying that, I have to agree that it's kind of ridiculous that your account is keyed into your "display name" since to me "display" means something you show, as opposed to "account" which means your account.

Also, if our accounts are truly keyed to our display names, then why do I have to log in with my email address? This implies that it's our email - which is a unique identifier - is what is really important. So which is the key? Your email, or your "display" name?

Edit: Even Minecraft now lets you change your user name. Your "display name" shouldn't feel as regrettable as a drunken tattoo, especially when we put real life money into this game, some of us a significant amount of money.